Judge’s fury at RAF’s lack of care

THIS is a tale of woe, a sad true-life story of a 22-year-old passenger in a taxi which crashed, resulting in the man losing his leg from above the knee.

It’s also a story of incompetence, a lack of responsibility towards the public purse, entitlement to abuse court rules, and ignorance of constitutional principles.

Those were the opening remarks of Judge Sulet Potterill, who delivered a judgment yesterday in the High Court in Pretoria in the case of Happy Matidza of Pretoria, who claimed millions in damages from the Road Accident Fund (RAF) in August 2014.

The judge ordered the RAF pay to Matidza R5m in damages as he was unlikely to work again.

Judge Potterill was so outraged by the conduct of the RAF claims handler, lawyer and advocate, that she ordered the matter also be referred to the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and the Pretoria Bar Council.

She also issued a punitive cost order against the RAF – money which will come from the public purse.

At the end of the case Judge Potterill called on the lawyer to explain why he should not personally foot the legal bill. But the lawyer replied that such an order would be fruitless, because “they will get nothing from me, as I have nothing”.

The judge’s fury came after it emerged that the RAF’s legal team had not, until the morning on which the matter was due before court, examined the facts of the case in order to prepare.

In concluding the claim and awarding a punitive costs order against the RAF, the judge comsaid the claims handler had no excuse for only looking at the file for the first time on the morning of the trial, especially as the amount claimed was large.

She also questioned why the RAF at first had to settle the matter, only to have a change of heart. According to her, the advocate also tried to argue a case when he knew nothing of the facts.

“This is not an isolated case. Case handlers of the RAF regularly have to come to court to explain their disinterest or lack of instructions, or late instructions to their attorneys.”